


Waves

by AliciaSinCiudad



Series: Tumblr-prompt stand-alones [16]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Healing, Post-Battle of Scarif, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Reference to off-screen character death (canon), Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2019-05-10 04:43:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14730162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliciaSinCiudad/pseuds/AliciaSinCiudad
Summary: He knows that if the waves touch him, he’s done for.She holds him now, and the waves creep closer.“It’s ok,” she murmurs, with the surety of someone who is trying to believe her own lies. “The waves won’t harm us. It’s just water. We’ll be fine.”





	Waves

**Author's Note:**

> Photo prompt from Tumblr: [k-m-brown writing prompt](http://k-m-brown.tumblr.com/post/173880784910)

 

 

He knows that if the waves touch him, he’s done for.

He’d closed his eyes, and she’d held him. He’d seen the light spreading across the water, seen it coming towards them. It was the light that was going to kill them, that would have killed them if the pilot hadn’t gotten them out of there. It was the light, and not the waves. But he fears the waves nonetheless.

She holds him now, and the waves creep closer.

“It’s ok,” she murmurs, with the surety of someone who is trying to believe her own lies. “The waves won’t harm us. It’s just water. We’ll be fine.”

“Where’s Bodhi?” Cassian asks. Another wave laps at them, coming within a forearm’s length. He could lean over, could reach out and touch it from where they kneel, but he does not want to die.

“He’s meditating with the Skywalker boy. He says it helps him think more clearly. Maybe you should try it.”

“I think clearly,” Cassian grumbles.

“You’re afraid of water,” Jyn points out.

“I’m afraid of the waves,” Cassian corrects. “Because we’re going to die.”

“Of course we’re going to die, but not from the waves, and probably not today.”

Cassian is not reassured. Another wave, perhaps two hand-lengths away.

“It’s just water, Cassian. It won’t harm us.”

Cassian’s brain knows that Jyn is right, but his heart is screaming at him to get the hell out of there. He misses K-2’s reassuring dismal predictions – _he_ had died, Cassian reminds himself, his predictions useless in the face of unsurmountable odds. And Chirrut and Baze, just when Cassian was starting to let his guard down and actually _like_ them…

It was his own fault of course. Letting his guard down meant not just leaving _himself_ exposed, but also everyone under his watch. If he hadn’t gotten distracted by vain hopes for friendship, for connection, then they might still be alive today.

Another wave. One hand’s breadth away. He wishes they wouldn’t come so quickly. He’s frozen to the spot. Jyn holds him. As she’d held him when the light came at them…

Cassian watches the next wave. It seems to come in slow motion, as the light had done. He sees it rushing forward, then slowing, losing steam, and eventually petering out, falling short of the wave before it. Perhaps the tide is shifting. Perhaps they are safe.

“Forgive me,” Jyn murmurs. Then she stands, suddenly, dragging Cassian to his feet as well. She pulls him forward, and he stumbles, his legs not what they once were, the sandy ground unstable beneath their feet. One foot splashes down in a receding wave, followed by a knee.

He closes his eyes, waiting for the end to come. But all that comes is water, gently lapping at them, whispering calm reassurances.

The waves do not harm them.

Cassian opens his eyes.

Jyn’s smile is brighter than that flash of light.

It does not harm him either.


End file.
